Qualifying Carnaby 3rd and pole Herron 10th and 10th

Race 1

Saturday’s round 15 saw seventeen-year-old Tom Carnaby was looking strong in fourth which became 3rd after Smith had served his penalty for having lined up incorrectly on the start grid although the teenager was now having to defend from the challenges of MacDowall who was now right on the back of his Clio. The Scunthorpe driver tried hard to keep MacDowall at bay but MacDowall got a good run out of Woodcote on lap 11 to go side-by-side over the start/finish line and slip by him on the inside of Copse. Tom Carnaby crossed the line in 4th place with Andrew Herron 9th.

Race 2

In front of a packed Silverstone crowd, round 16 saw rookie-racer Carnaby as Michelin pole-sitter, a first for the former Ginetta Junior racer and showing the strength of this season’s first-year drivers. As the light went out for the start of the 18-lap race, Carnaby took full advantage of his grid position to lead into Copse followed by Glew and Newsham as the remaining field jostled for position. A spin by Pattison at the first corner though caused his car to make contact with both Colburn and Scragg ending their races and forcing the Clerk of the Course to deploy the Safety Car at the end of the first lap.

When racing resumed on lap six, with the race distance increased to 21 laps, Carnaby led followed by Glew, Newsham & Andrew Herron. Carnaby’s lead was short lived however as the inexperienced racer went too cautiously into Becketts allowing Glew to slip by on the inside with Newsham following suit at Brooklands dropping Tom to third and then fifth a few laps later after running wide at Copse.

Meanwhile behind a great battle was developing between Herron and Lloyd for fourth and fifth places with the two making contact at Brooklands on lap 10 resulting in Herron losing places.

The close racing continued throughout the field and by the halfway stage Glew was leading from Newsham followed by the three-car-train of Smith who had earlier moved into third, Lloyd and Carnaby.

Two thirds race distance completed and Glew and Newsham began to edge away while behind the positions were changing almost every lap with Lloyd now moving into a podium finish followed by Carnaby and Smith. 

Four laps remained as the battle for the podium continued with Carnaby seizing on a gap left by Lloyd at Becketts to snatch the place and he crossed the line in third to grab his first podium but a late dash by Gaffney grabbed eighth place from Herron with just 0.004s separating the two drivers.

Third place in round 16 Carnaby added: “I’m absolutely over the moon with the podium! I knew it would be tough with so many good drivers around me and I did make some mistakes, especially at the restart where I was just too cautious. I’ve shown I’ve got the pace though this weekend and delighted with the result.”